If you get the chance to come to Tokyo, give me a call and I will introduce you to the governor of Tokyo, and the mayor of the Shinagawa Burough where I reside. They can give you a random tour of how they do things over here. I can ask for a special tour for you, too, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department so you can have an idea of why despite its big population, etc., Tokyo remains safe and orderly. Walang kuratong bulotong!

Give me at least a week to make the appointment with the Governor Ishihara of Tokyo, and a day or two with our Mayor and the police. I bet you that you have a lot to learn from them to help you make your city a model city.

Walang bola, but based on what I have observed and heard, mukhang OK ka. Ipagpatuloy mo.

wehavenoname said,

Thank you very much! I’ve been to Yokohama and Fukuoka, and briefly to Tokyo, Japan is really clean, orderly and safe. One day I will try to go and learn how they do it.

Pag umuwi ka rin at magbakasyon, don’t forget to drop by San Juan, so that you can see for yourself how far it has gone. Malayo pa compared to Tokyo but we are trying to make it a model community here in our country.

In 2006, San Juan was adjudged the Best Fiscally managed Local Government Unit in the Philippines. We likewise hold the distinction of having the lowest poverty incidence with less than 3% according to the National Statistics Coordinating Body.

Plus, I will show you the Museo ng Katipunan, which enshrines the gallantry and heroism of our Katipuneros.

JV Ejercito said,

It is sad that even in our history, the masses were not given importance. When we decided to build the Museo ng Katipunan here at Pinaglabanan in San Juan (site of the first battle of the revolution) i found out that it was Andres Bonifacio who doesn’t have his own museum. I was so surprised that the leader of the Katipunan and the Katipunan itself does not have their own. It is really something to see. I hope you can check it out when you go home.

Home to me now, JV, is California, so, I don’t go to the Philippines except when it is really that necessary as when I attend conferences or get involved in some advocacy. I go to the USA every year, though, to spend Christmas with my mother, siblings and relatives.

Truth is I plan to go to the Philippines when Koko Pimentel succeeds in getting his rightful place in the Senate. I’ll be travelling with friends who supported him and the Opposition as a matter of fact during the election. When I do, you bet, I’ll go and visit you.

I need to thank your Dad in fact for pushing for the reduction of the sentence given to the Japanese prisoner, Hideshi Suzuki, on Death Row, and the project that I wanted to do with him as a matter of fact during his reign regarding the street children. Sayang nga hindi natuloy because of the power grab.

You bet, I surely would love to see your Museo ng Katipunan. i agree. There should be a museum for the Bonifacios like what they have in England for instance for famous people who can inspire the British youth. Magandang panggising ng damdaming makabayan iyan sa totoo lang.

Nakakahiya man sabihin but I’ve never been to San Juan. You’re actually giving me an idea. I can try to recommend a sister-city tie up between your city and our burough but I have to see it first. Then, you can probably come here to meet with our Mayor about it.

Let’s see what we can do to wake up the sleeping Filipinos even just to kick out the power-grabber I call “criminal.” :-P

JV: It is sad that even in our history, the masses were not given importance.

******
Problem with the Filipinos, JV, is that even in the choice of their national hero, they allowed the Americans to make the decision for them, and then relegate the others to obscurity.

Truth is I love to read Rizal, but I thought Bonifacio should have been made the national hero because he represents the majority of Filipinos even just to encourage them to be as enterprising and fearless as he was, and that one does not have to be well off to be a hero!

Come to think of it. The only shrine they have for the Katipuneros I know in fact was the monument in Caloocan that the Mayor there even wanted transferred elsewhere. Walang sense of history kasi.

When I was a student in UK, I used to do a lot of walking tours visiting houses of famous people like the house of Shakespeare in Stratford Upon Avon, the house of Jane Austen in Hampshire near the famous Winchester Cathedral, or the house were Charles Dickens stayed in London. They were very educational and entertaining. I won’t say though that it can lessen the occurrence of crimes, but it surely can help one to develop better taste and outlook of life. They can try doing that in the Philippines. Problem is puro magnanakaw naman kasi! Kung magpasikat naman, puro labas lang kasi.

dhang ferrer said,

i’m sorry if i’m using this page to communicate with ms. josephine kobayashi. hello there. i need to ask you a few questions about Louie. If you are willing to communicate with me, please email me at alex_ferrer09@yahoo.com. i would really appreaciate your time regarding this matter.. thank you so much.. Dhang Ferrer

Leo Cesar Talens said,

I can sense your sincerity in extending your every effort, either in official capacity or personal capacity. I know you will have a long way to go for you’ve been intstrumental in making a difference in your constitutuent’s life. I may not be a bona fide San Juan resident, but you have earned my respect not because you’re the son of a former president, but simply because what you have done, what you’re doing and your directions for future are so evident most especially to the common tao.

By the way, please allow me to plug my gratitude to your Dad, when I learned through this blog or so, on your conversation with certain Yuko, that through your father’s effort, the reduction of the sentence (from death penalty to life imprisonment and with a monetary penalty of 10M to 1M) of my Japanese friend, Hideshi Suzuki was granted. I can only hope that this effort of extending help to my friend be once more extended as he appealed for deportation proceedings which accordingly, was endorsed to DFA in coordination with DOJ for more than a year now. Ngayon pa lamang, nagpapasalamat na po ako. and for Yuko, I admire your being, kahit di ko pa kayo nakikita or nakikilala as I can sense your being sensitive sa mga bagay bagay na may kinalaman sa ating lipunan. Let me give my email, just in case lang po na you’ll find interest, especially po sa kay Hideshi. lctalens@yahoo.com or leo.talens@activeonehealth.com